If you thought that Japan was already left behind on the race for green and clean energy, then youâ€™re wrong. According to the new data collected by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japanâ€™s solar photovoltaics (PV) rose dramatically from 2.7% in 2015 to a whopping 4.3% in 2016. Solarâ€™s contribution to Japanâ€™s energy mix soared during the second half of 2016, when solar PV accounted for more than 5% of all electricity generation. Together, all renewable energy sources together represented 14.2% of production during 2016. Hydroelectric power represented the largest share of renewable energy, followed by solar and smaller amounts of biomass, wind and geothermal. In the wake of Fukushima nuclear crisis, Japan has implemented a series of measures to reform the nationâ€™s electricity system, including liberalization of retail supply and legal unbundling of power generation and transmission and distribution planned for April 2020. The Feed-in Tariff system implemented in 2012 to promote renewable energy deployment is also one of the measures designed to change the shape of the electricity market. It is fairly low level of electricity volume has been traded on the wholesale market. In June 2016 for example, traded electricity accounting for only around 2.6% of the total electricity demand. Similarly, only about 3.3% of all retail customers have switched their suppliers from major utilities to new power suppliers since the implementation of retail liberalization. By contrast, renewable energy such as solar PV has rapidly increased. In areas of specific utilities, there are some days when the share of renewable energy provides as much as 80% of the electricity demand. Japanâ€™s solar feed-in tariff is currently capped at the regional level. Deployment levels are currently approaching the caps in several regions, including Hokkaido, Kyushu, Okinawa and Shikoku as a result of recent growth...

Etrion (a global solar power company) and Hitachi High-Technologies joined forces as they signed the project for the construction of a 13.2MW Komatsu solar project in the Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan. The construction of the project is expected to start on February next year. â€œI am delighted to announce the signing of the $33m project financing for our 13.2MW Komatsu project, our fourth utility-scale solar project in Japan,â€ Etrion’s chief executive officer Marco Northland said. â€œWe will continue to deliver new solar projects through our unique partnership with Hitachi High-Tech in Japan, which is the market with the highest returns for Etrion. Once we close the previously announced sale of our Italian assets, we will be in a very strong financial position to further accelerate our growth in Japan,â€ he added. Etrion will own a 85.1% stake in the Komatsu project, while Hitachi High-Technologies will own the remaining 14.9% stake. Around 83% of project costs will be financed through project debt from SuMi Trust with a tenor equal to the construction period plus 19 years of operations. The remaining 17% will be funded pro-rata by Etrion and Hitachi High-Technologies according to their respective equity...

ReneSola has acquired the total project development rights for 22.5 MW of ground-mounted, utility-scale solar projects in Japan. The projects, most of which are expected to commence production and connect to the grid in late 2015 and early 2016, will primarily use ReneSolaâ€™s Virtus II modules. ReneSola chief executive officer Xianshou Li said, â€œJapan has established itself as an important market for clean energy products and we...

Japanâ€™s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has unveiled a final energy plan under which renewables will account for 22% to 24% of the countryâ€™s power mix through fiscal 2030. A draft of the government proposal was announced in end-April, as part of which the desirable share for nuclear energy was set at 20%-22%. Despite requests for this share to be reduced in favor of green energy, all of the previously announced rations...